Q&A: Auto racer Ryan Scott

Wednesday

Feb 2, 2011 at 12:01 AMFeb 8, 2011 at 3:51 PM

Local auto racer Ryan Scott is among the drivers competing March 3-6 in Rally Guanajuato Mexico, one of the world's largest rally events. He and his Rally Team for Dreams chose to use this opportunity of a lifetime to benefit Camp Sunrise, which helps kids affected by HIV and AIDS. Scott shared more about his dream before the final push.

Local auto racer Ryan Scott is among the drivers competing March 3-6 in Rally Guanajuato Mexico, one of the world's largest rally events. He and his Rally Team for Dreams chose to use this opportunity of a lifetime to benefit Camp Sunrise, which helps kids affected by HIV and AIDS. Scott shared more about his dream before the final push.

I grew up at the dirt tracks with my grandpa. Every Friday night, we would go watch the sprint cars. I grew up loving racing. It was everything. I played all the other sports, too, but racing was that thing that I wanted to do.

I did all the responsible stuff. I put myself through college. I got married. I got a career. I was living that nine-to-five thing. I said, "I really want to race." At the time I was 26, and I was like, "I've got to figure out how to do this."

You decide you're going to do it , you pony up the money and you do it. I found a race car for $1,800. I spent four months fixing it up. It had been rolled in its last outing. They brought it back from the track and left it in a field. I did the driving schools and got my license. This will be year three for road racing.

Three things I can't live without are music, adrenaline and a cup of tea.

In rally, y ou have the driver and the co-driver. The co-driver sits in the passenger seat with a book of notes saying what everything in front of you is. That's what I do. The first time we went over jumps, I quit calling notes because I was shouting, "Woohoo!"

The r ally in Mexico is one of the 12 largest events in the world. They made an allowance where the American competitors can come down and run their car in a separate class.

It'd be like you having the opportunity to go play in the World Series. Not just to go and throw out the first pitch - but someone calling you and saying, "Yeah, we need you to be our starting pitcher."

Camp Sunrise is from Ohio, and they 're completely volunteer-run. They're just like us. A sick kid is crappy, regardless of what they have. It's tragic. You have a kid with HIV or AIDS, and nobody helps them. Society has this stigma toward the disease, so these kids have to lie about themselves. It's a double whammy.